


Kisses Like Freckles (All Over Your Skin)

by windscryer



Series: paint a canvas on my skin (and sign it with your love) [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Cuddles, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, established polyamory, half-assed background, look we're all here for the kisses let's not kid ourselves, musicalluna is SUCH an enabler, pepper's magical healing lips, starkspangledspice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 04:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6551605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windscryer/pseuds/windscryer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony’s not hurt but he’s not okay. Pepper’s a thorough kind of gal who needs to verify the first and fix the second as much for herself as for him. And Steve’s got a real issue with timing, but he always gets there in the end and that’s what really matters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kisses Like Freckles (All Over Your Skin)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/gifts).



> this is MCU canon up to the end of Cap 2, excluding, like, the last 5 minutes of IM3 because i am a terrible person who likes Tony having a built-in flashlight and Pepper with superpowers even if she can’t be convinced just yet to officially join the team ~~and Bucky was fixed by group hugs because dammit i said so.~~

She padded across the floor in her bare feet, rubbing her arms against the chill. She’d expected it to be warmer and dressed accordingly, for him to have the forge going or even to have heated the space just by his own frenetic movements, but he was sitting at his desk and everything was off but for the screen he was watching.

It was the SHIELD video of the afternoon’s battle and even though the sound was down she flinched, bright orange flowers of fire blooming across the camera’s view again and again. Doom and Loki had teamed up and the result had been equal parts pointlessly destructive and frustrating for everyone involved.

It wasn’t even a clear win for the team, which probably didn’t help. Loki had apparently gotten bored and turned on his suddenly former partner, then vanished with a bow and a laugh, leaving the Avengers to blink and watch as the Doombots exploded one after another leaving even more destruction in their wake.

Civilian casualties were thankfully low, but the damage to the city was painfully high and, as usual, SI had been fingered for the bulk of the costs by both the media and the city government. Her lip curled at the thought. As if they needed to direct blame onto Tony like he wouldn’t pick it up himself and hoard it like a very depressing dragon.

Which was why she was here now.

She stopped behind him and slid her hands onto his shoulders, pressing deep with her thumbs and beginning the work of loosening up the knots bracketing his spine. She bent her head to kiss his hair and a silent shudder rippled down his back.

His head dropped forward and she stopped her massage to slide her hands down his chest, wrapping them around him and covering the hard circle of the RT casing. The light was already buried under three layers of t-shirts, but cotton was a flimsy barrier. Let anyone who dared try to come through her, she thought viciously.

Tony shuddered again, then whispered, “I’m okay, Pep. I wasn't… I wasn’t hurt.”

She kissed his temple and tightened her grip. “You weren’t injured,” she agreed, “but you’re not okay.”

He reached up and patted her arm. “If I tell you you’re right will you turn down the thermostat?”

She frowned, then realized her goosebumps were gone because she was  _glowing_ , not because of proximity to Tony’s warmth.

“Shit,” she cursed. She tried to pull away as she breathed in deeply, but Tony wrapped his fingers around her arms and held her in place. “Tony—”

“You’re fine,” he said, “just breathe through it. You’re doing great.” He inhaled in time with her and then out again the same.

“I’m not angry at you,” she said, because while that should be obvious, this was Tony.

“I know,” he said, squeezing her arms again. She actually believed him, so she just breathed in and then out.

She let her head lower to rest on his as they rose and fell together until she felt the fire at her center dim to a banked glow and the fury that had fueled it calm to a simmer.

It wasn’t nearly gone, but it was under control again. Tomorrow she would have to deal with the PR headache after the media had time to think about the attack and work themselves around to the idea that it was somehow the Avengers’ fault they volunteered to save lives, but for now she could focus herself a little more tightly on the Avengers themselves.

She’d seen Bucky, Natasha, and Thor, none of them seriously injured and all of them angry with determination, off to work tracking down Doom and Loki. Bruce was sleeping off the day’s work in Hulk’s crash room with Darcy standing by with pants and food and Jane with  _Science!_  Steve was being seen to in medical under the sharp eyes of their resident Hawk and Falcon, who’d also mostly escaped injury, so Tony was hers to tend.

It would probably be better if she didn’t set him on fire, she thought wryly. The science team would never let her live that down after all the grief she’d given them for almost doing the same thing.

“Come on,” she said and straightened, urging him to stand. “JARVIS, give us lights at 30 percent and close down this station.”

The desk went dark as the lights came up and Tony frowned, but he let himself be herded away. She had to redirect him when he started toward the door, blinking past the fingers he’d been digging into the corners of his eyes.

“Pep? I thought I was being banished.”

She shook her head and pressed on his shoulder until he sat on the couch. Then she sat on his lap, her knees framing his hips. “You haven’t done anything to deserve banishment. You just need a little bit of distraction from yourself.”

His hands settled on her waist as she came down, curiosity starting to outweigh the sadness and guilt in his eyes.

She cupped his cheeks in her hands and smiled at him. He tentatively returned it and she rewarded that with a kiss on the lips, chaste and short, but firm.

His eyebrows crawled up his forehead, but when he opened his mouth to speak, she cut it off with another kiss to his upper lip, sucking lightly until he gave in and returned the favor on her bottom lip. He traced the length of it with his tongue and she hummed in approval, then pulled back.

He canted his head and she leaned in, lips firm as she pressed them to his, relaxing when he yielded to her.

His hands started to slide down and back, skimming over her ass until he had his palms full, but she sat up a little bit, pushing past his lips and licking into his mouth as she reached down and moved his hands back up to her waist.

He jerked back and said, “Wait, is this not going where I think it is?”

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, sucking his lower lip into her mouth and biting down lightly with her teeth, just enough for him to feel it and get back on track.

He groaned and pressed forward, his fingers digging into her skin as the intensity ratcheted up.

She let him have his moment, meeting him fully and giving back as good as she got, teeth clinking and tongues tangling, but when his hips rolled up into hers, she turned the tables again, gentling her movements and easing him back down to softer pecks and nips.

His eyes opened and regarded her with interest. She smiled and bumped her nose against his, never letting up on the brushes of their lips together.

After some rapid-fire blinking, he too smiled. One hand slid up her back, then back down, light petting strokes.

She responded by carding her fingers up into his hair and scratching at his scalp.

He sighed and settled back into the cushions, kissing the corner of her mouth and then her chin.

She draped herself over him and explored his face with her lips. She traced the arch of his eyebrows, pressing a kiss to the wrinkle between until it smoothed out, then down the sides until she peppered his beard with little pecks, the scratch against her skin leaving delicious tingles behind, then across his cheekbones, and on the tip of his nose, and lastly one on each eyelid.

His hands were limp at his sides, his fingers just barely resting on her hips.

She kept up her efforts, though, kissing the lobes of his ears and around the arch, feathering back his hair as she followed the line of his scalp. She moved down, tracing the the soft beat of the blood vessels in his neck, the ridges of the tendons, and the bump of his Adam’s apple.

She followed his collar and tugged it down to feel along his collarbones with her lips and teeth, scraping them over the bone, then licking the sting away as he shuddered under her.

She traced her nose up and over his chin so she could sink into his mouth once more, a deep, slow, drugging kiss that had  _her_  toes curling, her fingers digging into his biceps as she held on for dear life.

If she ever doubted that he felt  _anything_  for her, she just had to kiss him. He might not always have the words, but he certainly held the depth of it in his touch.

A throat cleared behind them and she withdrew. His lips were slick and swollen and she couldn’t help lifting a finger to her own to verify she was just as well marked.

“If I’m interrupting something, I can come back later.”

She twisted to see Steve, dressed down into his post-mission sweats, t-shirt, and hoodie, extra layers of socks on his feet because being in medical gave him the chills regardless of how warm they made the treatment room. His tone was flippant, but the bulge of his fists in the pockets of his sweatshirt and the shy bend of his neck told the truth about his hesitance in joining them.

Six months and most of them sharing a bed until his dawn run hadn’t convinced him of their sincerity. Well, they’d just have to keep repeating it until he believed them.

His hair was mussed from his cowl and the inspection for any damage to his skull since he’d taken a few hard hits and landings and Pepper’s fingers twitched on Tony’s arms with the desire to either smooth it down or make it even more of a mess. She didn’t honestly know or care, she just needed her hands on him.

She had confirmed Tony was going to be okay, now she needed the same for Steve.

It was Tony, though, who lifted a hand and waved him over, then patted the couch next to them. “Don’t be stupid, it’s not a good look on you.”

Steve crossed the floor, tension seeping out of his shoulders, but he smiled crookedly. “I thought everything looked good on me. Isn’t that what you said last week?”

Tony rolled his eyes, but as soon as Steve was close enough to touch his hand was reaching for a strong wrist, following it up to his shoulder and then around to his neck, briefly squeezing.

Pepper waited just until Steve was sitting down then shifted over to his lap. Tony made a noise of protest, but he was already turning to face Steve too.

The arm Tony had grabbed wrapped around the engineer’s waist, the other hand sliding up to rest on Pepper’s shoulder blade as she leaned into his chest. She rested her head on his shoulder, nose wrinkling at the smell of medical that lingered on him.

Above her she heard Tony and Steve kiss, wet, noisy little smacks that ended with a moan from Tony and a satisfied hum from Steve.

She didn’t want to interrupt, but wanted something for herself, so she curled a finger around the neck of Steve’s shirt and inched it aside enough to get her lips on his warm, smooth skin.

He sucked in a sharp breath and Tony shifted behind her, the warmth and weight of his chest against her back as he tipped Steve’s head onto the cushion and continued to take from him. Steve’s fingers flexed between them on her back and she shivered and sucked on his skin.

She’d regret the brevity of such marks, but since it was the same thing that kept him from being laid up in medical for days, she couldn’t really complain. Instead she made a point of leaving a dozen of them all across his neck. By the morning’s press conference they’d be only memories, but they were memories she’d hold onto so she could keep smiling instead of setting something on fire.

Steve’s hand slid down to her side and Tony’s groped along the same path until their fingers laced together along her ribs.

Steve’s ribs under her and Tony’s ribs above her both heaved as they panted for breath after finally breaking apart. She turned her head to see Tony’s forehead resting on Steve’s cheek, his hair ruffled by every huff out of Steve’s mouth.

She carefully extricated herself, hushing them with light kisses when they started to protest. Their hooded eyes watched her walk to the cabinet to get blankets, though Tony did take her place slumped against Steve’s chest, the latter’s hand rubbing up and down the former’s spine.

She flapped them out and laid them over the pair. Steve lifted the corner so she could crawl under when she was done and she did, giving him a smile as she snuggled into his side, his left and Tony’s right arms cuddling her close

More lazy kisses were traded, the occasional sharp, needy kiss making its way in here and there as her boys reminded themselves that the other was okay. She was given—and readily gave back—grateful kisses for a safe haven to return to and endless patience with their need to throw themselves into danger.

That wasn’t it, though, and that was why she stayed. If it had just been the destructive adrenaline addiction or prideful boasting of “look what I can do!” like they both had done in the past, she would have put her foot down long ago and seen the retirement of the Avengers one way or another.

But how could she say no to saving the world, to making sure that another generation of America’s children wasn’t lost in a world war, that no one else had to cling to a letter and a folded flag instead of a warm body?

They had each other in the field and they had her when the battle was done and, she thought, as she pressed one last kiss to blonde and brown hair, she was the one who really had reason to be grateful.


End file.
